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No school for my 6year old!

39 replies

Mumof3wunnerfuls · 24/08/2017 07:53

Hi everyone.
This is my first ever thread on here eeeep.

I'm in a bit of a state. I'm not sleeping properly and am completely stressed out. Any advice or assistance would be gratefully appreciated please.

Bit of background- my husband and I bought a new house in a different area last December2016. The reason, we needed a bigger home for us and our three children aged now ds11, ds6 and dd3. Also for better schools and much nicer area to live in.

We kept our two boys in their schools until this July as eldest ds was in year6 so thought pointless to move him.

We visited schools straight away when finalised the house for all the children and I put in the application for eldest ds's place for secondary which we got. Dd got her nursery place and our 6 year old ds has been on the waitlist for the two schools we love and think he will flourish at since December.
The two schools we have put him down for are within walking distance from home and the 1st preference has dd's nursery next door.

Ds has been 1st on the list since this time. Position hasn't changed. So throughout the whole of year 1 he's been 1st.
I chased up throughout the year with the LA and in July when I chased again they told me he hadn't got his place and I needed to reapply for a year2 space for this September.
I did so straight away and after a week I received an email stating he had been refused a place and I could appeal.
Reading the info that came through the refusal is based on class size.
I have appealed and sent off my email with my many reasons and have now received info that the appeal hearing is mid September.

The children go back to school 6th so ds2 won't have a place for over a week.
Then I've received info that he has been offered a place at a school which is an 11 minute drive from our home. That's in no traffic! They've said I have to accept the place and although I have now, I have informed them that I cannot get him there due to having other children in education and I need to get them to school too. It's just not possible.

I'm petrified of the appeal in all honesty and am dreading it. DH is coming with me and ds will have to too as nobody around to have him. We aren't fortunate enough to have our parents retired yet to help out and they're not round the corner either.
I don't have use of the car everyday, most days yes but when DH has a meeting he takes the car to work.

I must add that DS2 who this is all about is really sensitive. He's not the type of child who could be put into a situation like a new school then moved again potentially.

So I've probably waffled on way too much but I've tried to give you all as much info as possible.

Please could anyone give me any advice re the appeal or assistance with how to move forward with this.

I'm probably just stuck in this position with the LA and my sons educational life is in their hands.

Thanks everyone. From a desperately stressed and sad mum at the moment. Xx

OP posts:
meditrina · 24/08/2017 08:33

As your DS is year 2, then Infant Class Size rules apply. Schools cannot, by law, go over 30 per teacher unless the child is formally excepted from the rules.

It also means that the grounds for successful appeal are very limited.

You would need to show that one of the 3 grounds applied:
a) mistake in handling your application, which meant you did not get a place you would have been offered had it been handled correctly

b) the criteria are unlawful in some way (very rare)

c) the decision is so unreasonable that it is legally perverse (threashold very high for this, think child protection isssues)

You might stand a chance if you can show that there was a mistake in making offers from the waiting list (ie a place came up when your DS should have been top of the list, but it was offered to someone else)

You have been advised to accept the other school, because the LEA has no obligation to find you another place if you decline it. So unless you can arrange a place at a private school, HE indefinitely, or have identified another school with a vacancy (probably at a greater distance, but perhaps with a more convenient journey) and intend to ask the LEA to switch the offer to that school, that is the correct advice.

Accepting the offered place will make no difference whatsoever to your appeal to the schools you really want.

Newtssuitcase · 24/08/2017 08:38

I know it must be stressful but really? 11 minutes away from your house?? That's nothing.

Newtssuitcase · 24/08/2017 08:39

Presumably you've been doing a longer commute than that anyway since you kept him in his old school for 7 months after moving?

PanelChair · 24/08/2017 08:41

As meditrina says, the threshold for ICS appeals is very high, because of the legal limit on class sizes.

Your best argument is probably that your child needs a school place in order to settle in the area and make new friends but, realistically, that's still not likely to be enough to win the appeal. The other things you mention (such as the school being near the nursery) don't carry weight at appeal - it's about your child's education, not your logistics - and the LEA will doubtless argue that the need to settle is answered by the place in the offered school.

I'm sorry I can't be more encouraging.

welshweasel · 24/08/2017 08:42

Presumably the secondary school aged child will be taking themselves to school. The nursery aged child doesn't have to be there at a particular time so I can't see how it will be a huge problem.

Notso · 24/08/2017 08:42

I think I'd be looking into whether you can move your DD to be nearer to the school DS2 has got a place at. Presumably your secondary school child can make their own way to school.

2014newme · 24/08/2017 08:44

11 minutes drive is nothing That would be very close to most parents! Presumably the secondary age pupil will go to school by themself so you have two children to get to different schools unless the school 11 mins away has room for the other one. If they don't then you may need to use breakfast or after sch6club. A mum at our dch6eith different kids in different schools was allowed to drop off a bit earlier or pick up a few mins later.
11 mins is making a fuss about nothing, sorry.

Chocolatecake12 · 24/08/2017 08:44

I know of a few families who have moved areas and have had to have children in different schools until a place became available for them. The good news is that he's no.1 on the waiting list, you just need someone from his year group to move areas too or change schools.
Pp has lots of sound advice re the appeal. Unfortunately the LA do not take in to account the time it takes up travel to schools and distance from one to the other.
As an aside, would your eldest be making their own way to school? As your youngest is at nursery then the priority is to get your ds to school and drop your nursery aged child after.

PanelChair · 24/08/2017 08:46

I'd also think carefully about going to the appeal with both your husband and child. Panels sometimes look askance at anything that looks like emotional blackmail. In an ICS appeal their hands are pretty much tied, unless you can unearth some serious error or unreasonableness, but you want them on side. It might be better for one parent to attend while the other looks after the child.

2014newme · 24/08/2017 08:46

Actually yes the nursery child can be dropped a few mins late or picked up a bit early or there may be a place at your sons school for the nursery.

It's totally false to say your son has no school place, he has one very near your house!

Mumof3wunnerfuls · 24/08/2017 09:18

Hi. Thanks for all your replies.

I know I sound like a moaning Minnie so sorry.

OP posts:
Newtssuitcase · 24/08/2017 09:24

You don't sound like you're moaning, its a very different system nowadays but 11 minutes is something that is very easy to deal with and so I really don't rate your chances.

My friend has similar aged children at schools 40 minutes apart.

Mumof3wunnerfuls · 24/08/2017 09:45

I completely forgot to mention that back on June 8th we received a letter from the school we want ds2 to go to stating he had a place.
I've just found it in my drawer and will put it in my folder to take to the appeal.

It's headed paper from the school directly saying dear parents and carers,
Re entry to SAID school.

I am delighted that you have accepted a place to join us at SAID school etc etc.

Goes on to give info on welcome meeting for parents and children

I was so excited about it I called the school following day and they asked to call me back.

Basically they had sent us the letter intended for a different child probably on the same road but starting reception/foundation.

I was going to take this to the appeal but they're only going to say clerical error.

OP posts:
PanelChair · 24/08/2017 09:45

You're entitled to moan about the inconvenience - that's understandable - but you need to go into the appeal with an understanding that the things you're moaning about aren't things that the panel can attach any weight to, least of all at an ICS appeal.

DancesWithOtters · 24/08/2017 09:56

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

PanelChair · 24/08/2017 10:03

Just seen your latest post.

That might (I stress might) change things. It gives you the chance to argue that you had firm grounds for believing that you had a place. The panel might (just might) accept that backtracking from the offer in the letter was unreasonable. However, that's very far from certain. It's generally accepted that when offers are made in error, the school/LEA has a few days (but no more) in which to withdraw the offer. It seems that here the offer was withdrawn within 24 hours, so the panel may agree that that is speedy enough to be reasonable.

BakewellSliceAgain · 24/08/2017 10:05

Would you consider home ed for a while?

My mum suggested this to me while we waited for a school place nearby ( already 3 on wait list). We were in the process of moving so not able to join on waitlist. I panicked and instead bought a house in an area with instant place. Within 6 months the first school was admitting kids into the year group, no wait list any longer.

I wish I had just waited it out for a bit at least.

Migraleve · 24/08/2017 10:05

11 minutes! Christ, what do you want, a school on the dooorstep Hmm

Mumof3wunnerfuls · 24/08/2017 10:06

Thanks Panelchair

The school couldn't work out what had happened. They called the LA.
The LA called me to ask what the letter said so I read it out.

It took 2/3 days to sort and come to that conclusion.

OP posts:
SavoyCabbage · 24/08/2017 10:07

This happened today me but much worse.

There was no place in the whole (massive) county for my dd and she ended up not in school for three and a half months.

I appealed for my catchment school and got a place on the grounds that it is my catchment school and that the LEA couldn't give her a place anywhere else.

Mumof3wunnerfuls · 24/08/2017 10:08

BakewellSliceAgain

My husband has suggested this route. Neither of us really feel our son would get on at the school offered.

It has a bad ofsted too.

Also, what happens if there is a child within that area who actually wants a school place there that can't get one because of us?

OP posts:
Mumof3wunnerfuls · 24/08/2017 10:09

I am Petrified I will fall to pieces at the appeal.

OP posts:

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RitaConnors · 24/08/2017 10:10

That's strange about the letter. How did they have your name and address?

Mumof3wunnerfuls · 24/08/2017 10:11

I apologise again for moaning about the 11 minute distance. I just can't see how I would get him there when I don't have the car.
I understand that's nobody else's problem.
I've looked at bus routes however there isn't one to get me from dd nursery then to this other school in time for either to get to their nursery/school on time

OP posts:
Mumof3wunnerfuls · 24/08/2017 10:13

RitaConnors

Our details were with the school because of the showround we had previously. That's what I assumed.

I don't really know. All that I do know is that I had this letter sent to us

OP posts:
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